Lives of Eminent Philosophers 7.30 — Diogenes Laërtius on Zeno

Diogenes Laërtius, Lives of Eminent Philosophers 7.30

Reported speech · Diogenes Laërtius on Zeno

Here too is another by Zenodotus the Stoic, a pupil of Diogenes: Thou madest self-sufficiency thy rule, Eschewing haughty wealth, O godlike Zeno, With aspect grave and hoary brow serene. A manly doctrine thine: and by thy prudence With much toil thou didst found a great new school, Chaste parent of unfearing liberty. And if thy native country was Phoenicia, What need to slight thee? came not Cadmus thence, Who gave to Greece her books and art of writing? And Athenaeus the epigrammatist speaks of all the Stoics in common as follows: O ye who’ve learnt the doctrines of the Porch And have committed to your books divine The best of human learning, teaching men That the mind’s virtue is the only good ! She only it is who keeps the lives of men And cities,—safer than high gates and walls. But those who place their happiness in pleasure Are led by the least worthy of the Muses.